


Deja Vu

by CelticGrace



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Kaidan is the Commander, War Hero (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27436780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticGrace/pseuds/CelticGrace
Summary: Seven years after the Skyllian Blitz turned her world upside down, Dr. Maggie Shepard has finally put her life back together, finding happiness and peace on Eden Prime. But when the colony is attacked over a recently-discovered Prothean beacon, she is reunited with the one person she's spent the last seven years trying to forget.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Comments: 27
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy N7 Day y'all!!

Maggie Shepard stared wistfully out the window of her little prefab office on Eden Prime. It was a beautiful spring day, perfect weather, but she was not allowed to enjoy it, yet. Instead, she was stuck looking over reports and instructions, making sure every goddamn detail was perfect for the arrival of the SSV Normandy. 

A human-turian collaboration, the first of its kind, the Normandy was on its shakedown cruise and headed for Eden Prime to pick up a very important artefact Maggie and her team had dug up several weeks ago. An honest to god Prothean beacon. As far as she knew, the last beacon humanity, or anyone, had uncovered had been the one on Mars thirty-odd years ago. 

Now that her team had finished their initial study, the Citadel Council had demanded it be brought to them. And they’d sent the bloody Normandy to deliver it. 

She’d had mixed emotions about the whole thing since she’d gotten the call.

On one hand, the Normandy’s CO David Anderson was one of her favorite people in the galaxy. Hell, he was practically an uncle to her. On the other, she’d have been happy to never see or hear from Anderson’s XO ever again. 

No, that wasn’t fair. 

Her problem wasn’t with Kaidan Alenko himself. After all, he’d saved her life once. Her real problem was that that day was the worst day of her life, and every time she saw him or his name, she was reminded of it. 

She shook herself from her thoughts before she took a nosedive down a rabbithole of tragedy. She had a lot to do to make sure this day went the way it was supposed to, and wallowing in the past wasn’t going to help her get that done. And when she saw him… 

A ping on her omni-tool pulled her firmly into the present. The Normandy was twenty minutes out.

Showtime.

But she’d barely pushed her seat back from her desk when a nearby explosion sent Maggie flying across the room. 

She picked herself up off the floor and shook her head again, nearly convinced she was having a flashback. It was preferable to the alternative: raiders had ventured into Council space and Eden Prime was under attack. 

She slapped herself in the face, the sting of it keeping her focused. She had to get back to her own hut and retrieve her weapons. As much as she wanted to, she knew she couldn’t rely solely on her biotics. If this attack was anything like Elysium, the fight could go on for days. 

But hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. The Normandy was minutes out, and the colony wasn’t without its own complement of soldiers. 

A look out the window showed the coast was clear, for the moment, though she could already see bodies scattered across the courtyard. Whoever had invaded was probably still close by. She’d have to be quick and quiet. 

She yelped when someone knocked on the door just as she reached to open it. She withdrew her hand and kept quiet. She knew from experience that raiders often pretended to be victims to gain entrance to locked rooms and buildings.

“Maggie!” a panicked voice called through the door. “For God’s sake! Let me in, Maggie!”

It sounded like her colleague, Dinah Blake, but she couldn’t be sure. 

Another knock and Dinah was nearly hysterical. “Maggie! They’re coming! They’re gonna—”

And then she was gone. Maggie could hear Dinah’s screams fading as she was presumably dragged away. 

Maggie sank to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. Maybe it would be better if she just stayed put. She wasn’t a soldier—no one would blame her for not joining in the fight. 

Right?

No. Raid or not, she still had a job to do. And that job was more important than ever—she couldn’t let that beacon fall into the wrong hands. 

Steeling herself for what lay outside the relative safety of her office, she cracked the door open and glanced around the courtyard. Whoever had dragged Dinah away had clearly decided she’d been alone. Or they were laying in wait.

It didn’t matter. Maggie knew she had to get to her hut, get her weapons and then get to that beacon. 

She dodged and weaved around and under several buildings until she reached the comfort of her hut. She couldn’t stay long, but she took several moments to breathe. It wouldn’t help anything if she had a panic attack. 

Far sooner than she’d have liked, but probably later than she should have, she retrieved the armor and shotgun her father had given her when she’d taken the Eden Prime assignment. She’d questioned the gifts at the time, but now… 

Cautiously, she exited the hut and slowly made her way toward the dig site where her team had uncovered the beacon. 

A series of explosions sent her scrambling in the opposite direction of the dig site, back toward the farms. 

She still had yet to see a single raider. She’d only seen dead bodies and some strange spikes which she refused to look at any closer than necessary, for fear of what was on them. 

Attempting to go back the way she’d come, she hid behind a pillar when she heard clicks and whirring noises coming from nearby. She ventured a glance around the corner and bit back a scream as several large robots with what looked like flashlights for heads walked past her, each dragging a human behind them. 

As soon as they’d passed, she ran for a group of boulders and fallen pillars, ducking behind one just as something shattered the rock above her head. She peered over the top of her hiding place and ducked down immediately as a group of drones pinned her down with laserfire. 

She ventured a glance as the laserfire ceased momentarily, took aim with her shotgun and blasted one out of the air. The others resumed firing and she ducked back down, wondering how the hell she was going to get out of this one. She only had so much ammo and she wasn’t sure how effective her biotics would be against drones. 

Another pause and she fired again, missing one drone but hitting another with a second shot. This one didn’t fall but began firing erratically, nearly taking out one of its fellows as well as most of the pillar Maggie hid behind.

She moved to the fallen pillar to her left, only to have it explode in her face. She lay stunned for several seconds before she got to her feet, sprinted and ducked behind a boulder, slumping down against it to catch her breath. 

She looked up the hill in front of her and narrowed her eyes as she saw movement several yards away. Too far for the drones to sense, but coming closer. 

After a minute of staring, she realized they were three humans, Alliance soldiers at that. All three wore helmets, but even from a distance she could make out the distinct N7 emblazoned on the chest and helmet of the tallest figure. 

Alenko or Anderson. Had to be. There were no N7 soldiers stationed on Eden Prime and the Normandy was the only ship scheduled to be in the area. 

A small explosion hit between Maggie and the soldiers, forcing her attention back to the drones. They had moved closer, apparently now aware of the new targets. She didn’t dare move again, for fear they’d turn their attention back to her—at this range, that would be lethal. 

A couple of biotic overloads from the N7—it was Alenko then—and some well-placed shots from the other two and the drones were nothing but electric confetti in a couple of minutes. 

Still, Maggie didn’t move, even as shrapnel rained down around her.

Alenko seemed to be deep in conversation with one of the other soldiers as they approached her—the third looked almost dazed even with the helmet. 

“Dr. Shepard?” Alenko removed his helmet as he crouched in front of her. The others must have done the same but Maggie couldn’t see them. She couldn’t see anything or anyone except him. A thread of panic shot through her and memories rushed back of the first time they’d met, in a nearly identical position, only this time, she wasn’t covered in her husband’s blood, cradling his lifeless body in her arms. 

“Dr. Shepard?” A firm hand on her shoulder shook Maggie back to reality. “Dr. Shepard, are you all right?”

She nodded slowly, still feeling somewhat numb as she stared at Alenko. “I’m alive, if that counts for anything. Guess I’m doing better than most of the rest of the colony anyway.”

One of the soldiers, the one who’d looked as though they were in a daze, let out a choked sob. Maggie raised an eyebrow at Alenko.

“Corporal Jenkins,” he said quietly. “This is his home colony; his parents own one of the farms.”

“Shit.” She batted Alenko away from checking the shrapnel wounds on her arms and crawled over to sit beside Jenkins as he kept watch. “Hey. Richard, right? I’m Maggie. I knew… know your parents. Their bees have the best honey I’ve ever tasted.”

Jenkins seemed to acknowledge her with a faint hum but continued staring out into the distance. 

“Do you know what happened, how this started?” Alenko asked as he moved over to continue checking her injuries. 

She shook her head. “Not a damn clue. I was in my office, getting ready to head to the spaceport when I got the notification that you were close to landing. Next second, explosions and…” She shivered violently as she remembered the sounds of poor Dinah being dragged away. “At first, I thought it was another pirate raid, like…”

“Yeah.” Alenko took her face in his hands for a moment, murmuring apologies when she hissed as his gloves scraped over fresh wounds. “We received a distress signal and a shaky vid, little more than people running for their lives, but no shots of who or what was attacking. Except a giant ship landing near the spaceport. And we’ve only run into drones so far.”

“Haven’t seen a ship, giant or otherwise today. Did see a few robots just before the drones pinned me down.” Maggie frowned, a vague memory from school, but it didn’t seem possible, from what she remembered. “They looked like… Geth.”

“Geth?” The third soldier, a dark haired woman, scoffed from her place at the other end of the fallen pillar. “Couldn’t have been. They haven’t been seen outside the Perseus Veil in—”

“200 years,” Maggie said irritably. “Yeah, I know. I also know what I saw.”

Alenko glanced between the two of them and shook his head slightly. “Dr. Maggie Shepard, meet Lt. Ashley Williams.”

Maggie nodded curtly, as did Lt. Williams before she turned back to her post.

“Speaking of what you saw,” Alenko said as he retrieved a first aid kit from his pack, “have you seen a turian Spectre around here?”

Maggie shook her head. “No, no turians on Eden Prime. Couple of archaeology-minded asari stop by occasionally, but no other aliens. Dunno I’d know what a Spectre looked like if I saw ‘im anyway.”

“You’d know this one,” Williams said. “Walks like he’s got a whole tree trunk stuck up his ass.”

Alenko looked like he wanted to argue the description but decided against it. “He’s… intense.”

“He’s brilliant!” Everyone turned in surprise at Jenkins’ exclamation, but he’d already returned to gazing intently across the hills.

Maggie shrugged. “Sorry, no turians, intense and Spectre-y, brilliant or otherwise.”

“Damn.” Alenko popped a pack of medi-gel and spread it over several places on Maggie’s face. “Couple of these look bad, but it’s the best I can do ‘til we get you back to the Normandy.”

Before Maggie could argue that she wasn’t getting on his ship, Williams spoke up. “We should get moving soon. I think I see movement up ahead, but I can’t tell from this distance whether they’re friendlies or not.”

“Betting on not,” Maggie muttered as she begrudgingly accepted Alenko’s help in getting to her feet. “Where are we headed?”

“Our top priority is still the beacon,” Alenko said, taking up a position behind her as Jenkins walked beside her and Williams moved in front. “We’ll try to save as many of the colonists as possible but…”

Maggie nodded. “I had a similar thought earlier, which is how I got stuck out here instead of staying in my office.”

“You’d be dead if you stayed in your office,” Williams said over her shoulder as they moved out. “As far as we’ve seen, damn near all the buildings on this side were destroyed.”

“Damn. We should head to the dig site. We were going to move the beacon this morning but not until you got here.”

“No point going there,” Alenko said. “The last we heard from Nihlus, that’s our turian, the dig site was empty. No people, no beacon.”

“Shit. Somebody must have moved it then. Let’s hope it’s at the spaceport. Can’t think of anywhere else they’d take it.”

Conversation ceased for the next few minutes as they came across a group of Geth and what vaguely passed for humans… zombies of some kind. Up another hill and they bore witness to exactly how the “zombies” came to be: humans, still alive, forced onto spikes by the Geth and other zombies. 

“There has to be something else at work here,” Alenko said as they moved on to several burnt-out structures. “It can’t just be the Geth.”

“What do you mean?” Maggie asked, glad of the conversation to keep from dwelling on the spikes. 

“It just seems odd that the Geth would attack, unprovoked, and a human colony. We weren’t part of the galactic community the last time they were seen outside the Veil.”

“So someone must be leading them,” Maggie said. “But who?”

They saw exactly who as they crested the next hill: a heavily-scarred turian, silvery white coloring blending nearly seamlessly with metallic armor, barked orders at a group of Geth before he was whisked out of sight on a flying disc.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb,” Maggie said after they’d fought off the group of Geth, “and say that’s not the turian you’re looking for.”

“Definitely not,” Alenko said. “Nihlus is—”

A shout from Williams drew their attention to the departure platform of the transport station. She stood over the body of a second turian, this one darker in both markings and armor, and decidedly dead. Dark blue blood pooled under him from a sizable gunshot to the back of the head.

Alenko swore under his breath, muttering about how he never should have let Nihlus go off on his own. 

“This wasn’t your fault, Commander,” Jenkins said, clearly crestfallen but resolute in his statement. 

“He’s right,” Williams added. “Nihlus was gonna do what he wanted, protocol be damned.”

Alenko hummed in response before turning to Maggie. “What’s the fastest way to the spaceport?”

“As long as that other turian bastard hasn’t locked the controls, this tram will take us straight there,” she said, walking to the car waiting at the end of the track. When the car started down the track without a hitch, she let out a small cheer, earning her a laugh from Alenko and Jenkins and an eye roll from Williams. “Now, let’s hope we’re not too late to save that beacon!”

* * *

Geth swarmed the track and platform as the tram pulled into the station outside the spaceport. Maggie tried to help fight them off as best she could, but she spent most of the battle dodging bullets and shielding Jenkins. 

With the last of the geth dispatched, the group sprinted to the lone dock on the other side of the spaceport. Maggie heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted a familiar pillar across the way—they’d caught up to the beacon at last.

But something was wrong. When they’d dug it up, even when they’d studied it for all those long weeks, it had stayed dormant. But now, it was glowing, humming… almost _alive_.

While Williams and Jenkins stood watch and Alenko contacted the Normandy, Maggie approached the beacon with a sense of trepidation. For all her archaeological curiosity, she wasn’t stupid. She knew it was dangerous, and more so now that it was activated. As she inched closer, she could feel the energy rolling off it, almost as if it was pulling her toward it.

And then it was. She was caught in some sort of field, trapped at least a foot above the ground, unable to move even a finger. She couldn’t even scream, but from the shouts below her, Alenko and the others had noticed anyway. 

After a few seconds, her surroundings faded and she saw images of war, explosions, death; she could hear a message of some sort, but she couldn’t make out what it said. Even without knowing the words, she could still hear the tone. It was a warning to those who came after the Protheans. 

Just as suddenly as the images and message had appeared, they faded to darkness, moments before the world seemed to explode in pain and bright lights for several seconds and then it all went dark and Maggie felt nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Maggie groaned, every inch of her body—but especially her skull—feeling like a krogan had stomped on it repeatedly. She slowly opened her eyes but swore and shut them again immediately as light flooded her vision. 

“Hey, it’s okay, take your time.” Alenko sounded close, like he was right beside her. “Lemme get the lights.”

She relaxed as the light behind her eyes dimmed. Tentatively, she opened them again, and swore again when she saw Alenko really was sitting beside her bed. “So that was all real?” she asked thickly, reluctantly accepting his help sitting up. “The attack on Eden Prime… the geth… _you.”_

“Afraid so.”

She sighed and fell back against the pillows in resignation. “Great. Just what I needed.”

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you awake,” said a familiar voice from the other end of the medbay. Maggie perked up as Dr. Chakwas, an old friend of her father, walked out of her office. “When the commander carried you in here, I really wasn’t sure what we were dealing with,” she said as she helped Maggie sit up again and did a few scans. “But aside from several deep shrapnel wounds, which likely will scar, you seem to be fine. How do you feel?” 

Maggie blinked, brushing aside the thought of Alenko carrying her anywhere, and attempted a smile. “I’ve felt better, but I’m alive, no thanks to my own stupidity.”

Alenko laid a hand on her arm. “That wasn’t your fault, Shepard. You never got near the damn thing, it just sort of pulled you in.”

“And then exploded in my face.”

“Yeah, well, can’t have everything go perfect,” he said, giving her a smile as he stood up. “Now that you’re awake, I should go reassure Jenkins that you are in fact alive. He’s been worried sick about you on top of trying to reach his parents.”

“Poor kid. Hope he gets through to them soon.” 

“Speaking of parents,” Chakwas said as the door closed behind Alenko, “David told me to take you straight to his quarters as soon as you were up to walking. Your father is anxiously awaiting your call.”

“Shit.”

“Yes. He’s been less than pleasant to talk to these last fifteen hours.”

“So am I free to go?” Maggie stood on wobbly legs, not daring to move too far from the bed. “And exactly how far are David’s quarters?”

Chakwas looped an arm around Maggie’s waist and tightly gripped one of her hands as she guided her to the door. “Not far. Just on the other side of the mess.”

Maggie’s brow furrowed. “Odd layout, isn’t it? Wonder if this is what a turian ship looks like, just scaled for humans.”

“I know the CIC is specifically turian design, but as for the rest, I honestly couldn’t tell you.” Chakwas palmed open the door of the Captain’s Quarters and led Maggie to the desk. “David said for you to take as long as you need.”

Maggie sank into the chair and smiled at Chakwas. “Thanks, Karin. For… everything.”

Chakwas nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Maggie wasn’t at all surprised to find the link to her father’s office still up on Anderson’s terminal. 

He answered immediately. “David, I swear—oh thank God.” He seemed to wilt a little as he stopped pacing and took a long look at her. “How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m… okay,” she said, her voice no steadier than her legs had been. “It’s been a long day. Definitely didn’t turn out like I expected. If this could stop happening to me…”

Her father nodded. “I know, sweetheart, I know. I can’t even begin to imagine.”

“You were in a war.”

“Yes, and those were battles we expected. You woke up this, no, yesterday morning, expecting nothing more than to hand over a beacon.”

“And ended up having it explode in my face,” Maggie grumbled. She’d never live it down, the Prothean expert having a Prothean beacon explode in her face.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I swear, the next person who says that to me…” 

“Well, it _wasn’t_ ,” her father said firmly. “And beating yourself up about it won’t do you or anyone else any good.”

“Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “Seeing Alenko didn’t help things.”

“Weren’t you going to see him anyway?”

“Yeah, but only for like ten minutes, to hand over the beacon. Wasn’t expecting to have him save my life, again. And fighting alongside him, again.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“I don’t think his lieutenant likes me.”

Hackett raised an eyebrow. “Lt. Williams? Why would she not like you?”

“Because I’m a civilian.”

“Her family are all civilians, save her father and grandfather.”

Maggie shrugged. “Just a feeling I got. She grumbled every time we came across a group of civilians, grumbled every time I said or did anything, probably bitched to Alenko about me even being on the Normandy.”

“I’ll have David speak to her.”

“Oh God, no. Don’t do that, Dad. Please. I just… it was just an observation. I’m sure she’s perfectly lovely under less stressful circumstances.” Maggie frowned as her omni-tool pinged, a message from Anderson. “I gotta go, Dad. Apparently there’s a chance I might have to appear before the Council.”

“What on Earth for?”

She shrugged. “As a supposedly impartial witness to everything that happened?”

He sighed. “Well, good luck. And let me know what your plans are, going forward. Whenever you figure them out.”

Maggie nodded. “Of course, Dad. I’ll talk to you soon. Love you.”

“Love you too. Hackett out.”

* * *

“You wanted to see me?” Maggie said, standing awkwardly at the door to the comm room, where Anderson, Alenko, and Williams were gathered.

Williams frowned. “What’s she doing here?”

“At ease, LT,” Alenko said. “We asked her to be here. From what the captain’s said about Saren—that’s the other turian,” he said to Maggie, “the one leading the geth—we’ll need all the evidence we can get against him.”

Williams huffed and crossed her arms but didn’t say anything else.

Maggie ignored her and raised an eyebrow at Anderson. “Wait. _That_ was Saren?”

She’d heard stories about him when she was a teen, Anderson and her father talking about some failed mission which had cost Anderson dearly. But she’d never seen him, nor even realized he was turian.

Anderson stiffened. “Should’ve known you’d heard about that. And yes, that was Saren.” He shook his head and changed the subject. “Glad to see you on your feet.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he guided her into the conversation. “I take it you spoke to the admiral?”

Maggie nodded, hiding a smirk at the way Williams paled. “He was relieved to finally see me. I had a feeling he was tired of talking to you and Karin.”

Anderson chuckled. “Today? Yes, I suppose he was. But he also kept asking for updates so I don’t know what else he expected of us.”

“He’s both stubborn and impatient so…”

“Traits you both share,” Anderson said. “Anyway, we’re close to docking at the Citadel and Ambassador Udina has been granted an audience with the Council. And we think it would be beneficial for you to be there.”

“No offense, sir,” Williams said, “but this won’t work, whether Dr. Shepard is there or not. The Council doesn’t give a shit about humans. Never have, never will.”

“That may have been true in the past, Lieutenant, but we have been making progress lately.” He gestured to Alenko. “His being put up for Spectre consideration is proof of that.”

“Maybe. But they’ve always scoffed at us whenever our colonies are hit.”

“She’s not wrong,” Maggie said, drawing a look of surprise from Williams. “Remember their response after Elysium, after Mindoir? And those were batarians, who attack pretty much anyone. Think of what they’re going to say when we claim Eden Prime, a farming colony, was attacked not only by a race who haven’t been seen in 200 years, but were led by a Council Spectre. They’ll laugh us right out of the chambers.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Alenko said. “We still have to try.”

“I know.” Maggie hesitated. “There is one other thing.”

She briefly recounted the vision she’d had when she was caught up in the beacon’s forcefield. Williams scoffed, Anderson looked concerned, but Alenko seemed thoughtful, intrigued almost. 

“It could be useful,” he said when she’d finished. “Something to keep in mind at least.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Anderson asked. “That was a hell of a thing.”

Maggie nodded. “Yeah, I’m all right. A little worse for wear probably, but I’ll be fine.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked down at her clothes. “When is this meeting supposed to take place? Think I’ll have time to drop by my dad’s place to shower and change real quick?” 

“You should be fine. We’ll have about an hour after we dock. Just meet us at the base of the Council Tower.”

* * *

Maggie hid in the depths of a borrowed hoodie as she made her way across the Citadel to the Alliance officers housing block. Anderson had tried to insist she take Williams with her, but Maggie had protested on behalf of them both, and he had finally reluctantly relented. She knew she’d probably catch hell from her father or Dr. Chakwas later for it, as the directive had undoubtedly come from one of them, but after the chaos and trauma of the last 24 hours, she just needed space to breathe.

That was one thing she hadn’t been afforded after Elysium. Between her own injuries and planning her husband’s memorial, it had been damn near six weeks before she’d been alone for even half an hour. It had been exhausting and she was positive it had contributed to the downward spiral she’d taken in the months afterward. 

She couldn’t afford that this time. She had no idea what was going to happen after the Council meeting, but whatever it was, she was determined to help in whatever way she could. 

Stepping into the shower, she allowed herself to finally let go, to unleash the anguish, anger, and grief she’d pent up since running into Alenko. Eden Prime had been her whole life since just after Elysium. She’d gone there to get away and had found a purpose, friends, a life. And now all that had been taken away, yet again. 

All too soon, the alarm on her omni-tool blared, reminding her to get a move on. She dressed quickly and called a cab to take her across the Presidium to the Council tower. 

The others were already there when she arrived, Alenko and Williams chatting to themselves as Anderson looked to be deep in conversation with a squirrely looking man Maggie recognized as Ambassador Udina. 

“What is _she_ doing here?” Udina snapped as Maggie walked up to the group. 

“I am so sick of hearing that,” she shot back. “Where exactly am I meant to be?”

“I couldn’t care less,” Udina said, “as long as it’s not here.”

“As has been said to more than one person in the last hour,” Williams’ entire face turned pink at Anderson’s words, “I asked Dr. Shepard to be here. She was a witness, she’s an expert on the beacon and—”

“You mean the one you couldn’t deliver because it exploded, by her own hand?”

Alenko and Williams both put a hand on Maggie’s shoulders when she snarled at the ambassador. 

“Let it go, Shepard,” Alenko muttered. “He’s not worth the aggravation.”

Maggie blew out a deep breath. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

“If we don’t go now, we’ll be late,” Anderson said, gesturing to the elevator even as he put himself between Maggie and Udina. “And this whole argument will have been for nothing.”

* * *

“What utter bullshit!” Maggie spat out twenty minutes later after every shred of evidence had been dismissed, including her own testimony and that of a dock worker who had witnessed Saren murdering Nihlus. “What was the point of that if they were just going to dismiss it all anyway?”

“That’s politicians for you,” Williams said. “What do we do now?”

“We have one lead,” Alenko said. “The turian C-Sec officer. He said he wasn’t giving up his investigation.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow. “What turian C-Sec officer?”

“Oh right, it was before you got here,” Alenko said. “On our way up here, Williams and I came across an officer named Vakarian arguing with his boss, the Executor, saying he wanted more time to finish his investigation into Saren. He came up to us afterward, said he hoped we had better luck than he’d had, and that he was going to keep going, regardless of orders.”

Maggie hummed. “That’s all well and good, better than the nothingness we’ve got, but where do we find him? Citadel’s a big place.”

“I have a contact in C-Sec who might be able to help,” Udina said. “His name is Harkin.”

“I don’t like it,” Anderson said. “Harkin’s a drunk, a loose cannon. A disgrace. I wouldn’t trust him to find his own ass.”

“You don’t have to like it,” Udina snapped. “I don’t want you anywhere near this investigation, not with your history with Saren. No, leave it to Alenko.”

Anderson looked like he wanted to protest, but merely shook his head and glowered at Udina.

“You can’t do that!” Alenko said, his fists clenched at his side. “He’s as much a part of this as we are.”

“No, he’s right,” Anderson said. “Saren needs to be stopped, and my being involved will only derail the investigation.”

“But—”

“If it were me,” he said, staring pointedly at Alenko, “I’d talk to Barla Von, a volus who works over in the financial district. He’s an agent of the Shadow Broker and as such, he has eyes and ears everywhere. If anyone knows what Saren’s up to, it’ll be him.” Anderson shrugged. “But that’s me. You do what you feel is best. If you want to talk to Harkin, I’d bet my life savings that he’s in Chora’s Den.”

Udina and Anderson walked to the elevator, leaving Alenko, Williams, and Maggie dazed and confused. 

Alenko instantly turned on Maggie. “For someone who practically claims Captain Anderson as family, you sure didn’t leap to his defense!”

She sighed. “I didn’t come to his defense,” she said slowly, “because I agree with Udina’s decision. I don’t _like_ it, but I agree with it.”

“How could…” Alenko cut himself off and narrowed his eyes on her. “You know something, don’t you?”

“I overheard Anderson and my father discussing it, I think it was about twenty years ago. Some mission gone wrong. But that’s all I’ll say. It’s not my story to tell.”

“If it’ll help the investigation…”

“What happened back then, the Council will already know about it—hell, they were probably involved in it. We need evidence of what he’s up to _now_ , that he attacked Eden Prime, that he’s working with the Geth, anything.” She crossed her arms. “But if you just _have_ to know, it’s just eating you up to the point you won’t be able to sleep, there’s one simple solution.”

Alenko rolled his eyes. “And that would be?”

“Go after Anderson and ask him!”

Alenko grumbled to himself but seemingly let the matter drop. 

“So what do we do now?” Williams asked again after they’d stood in strained silence for several minutes.

“We could do both,” Maggie suggested. 

“We don’t have that kind of time,” Alenko said.

“Not as a group, no, but we can easily split up: one of us goes one way, the other two go the other way.”

Alenko nodded thoughtfully. “It’s risky, but we need all the evidence we can get.”

“Exactly.”

“Williams? Thoughts?”

She shrugged. “It’s as good a plan as any. How do we split?”

“As much as I loathe the idea,” Maggie said, “I think I should take on Harkin.”

“Alone?” Alenko asked, an odd note of alarm in his voice.

“Yes, alone. Anyone who’s an informant for Udina isn’t gonna be intimidated or even listen to the two of you. His type doesn't respect Alliance or any other military. Doubtful he even respects C-Sec.”

“I see what she’s saying,” Williams said. “As a civilian, he’ll talk to her. Probably not without a skeevy comment or two, but she’ll have an easier time than either of us.”

“Exactly.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Alenko asked.

Maggie shrugged. “Wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t.”

Alenko still looked a little uncertain but nodded to Williams. “I guess that means we’ll take Barla Von.”

“And then we’ll meet up somewhere after we’re all done?”

“If that’s the way we want to play it. Depends on the information we get.” 

The trio took the elevator down and prepared to go their separate ways. 

Alenko turned to Maggie. “Keep a line open when you go into Chora’s Den, so we can hear everything. Just in case.”

“Fine.” 


	3. Chapter 3

“That’s one of them!”

Maggie didn’t even bother looking around for the source of the voice before she ducked down behind a half-wall. Moments later, a barrage of bullets pelted the wall where she’d been standing. She waited for a lull before peeking over the barrier—a pair of turians were on the other side of the square, having a hard time fitting themselves in the short space. 

“Was that gunfire?” She winced at the volume of Alenko panicking in her ear as she pulled her own weapons. “Are you okay?”

“No need to yell,” she muttered, looking up over the wall again, “I can hear you just fine. And yes, I’m okay. Just a couple of mercs, probably sent by Saren.”

“We can be there in two minutes.”

“You have no idea where I am, Alenko, so I guarantee it’ll be more than two minutes. And by then, if I was in trouble, which I’m not, I’d be dead. Stick to the plan. I’ll be fine.” She switched off her comm temporarily and fired at the assassins, swearing as she missed both targets. “Fuck!”

Ducking down again as they resumed firing, she holstered her weapons. She’d never been a crack shot, or even a half-decent one, despite her father’s best efforts to teach her. She’d been lucky hitting those drones on Eden Prime.

If she was going to get out of this, she’d have to rely on her biotics. Again. 

Before Elysium, she hadn’t used her biotics for anything other than laziness since her lessons with her asari tutor had ended when she was sixteen. And after Elysium, she had shunned them entirely until the attack on Eden Prime. 

The crack of a shotgun overhead violently started Maggie back to the present—she looked up to find the most enormous krogan she’d ever seen standing in the doorway she’d been headed to before the ambush.

She dared a peek over the halfwall to find the turians laying in a heap, the one on top missing a significant portion of his head. 

“Kid like you shouldn’t be wandering around unprotected,” the krogan growled, extending a heavily scarred hand to help Maggie to her feet. 

“Not a kid,” she snapped. “And not unprotected… exactly.”

“When you’re a thousand years old, damn near everyone’s a kid,” the krogan said unapologetically. “And if you want to claim biotics as protection, you’re gonna have to actually use ‘em.”

She couldn’t fault that logic. “Sorry if I sounded ungrateful for the assistance.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep your eyes open. You’re a wanted woman, Dr. Shepard.”

“Brilliant. Who are you, anyway?”

“Urnot Wrex. I’m a bounty hunter.” He shook his head when she shot him a questioning look. “If you were my target, you’d be long dead. No, Saren’s my target, and you’re his, you and your Alliance friends.”

“Oh shit, that reminds me.” She quickly switched her radio back on. “Alenko, you still there?”

“Where the hell have you been, Shepard? Are you all right?”

“Fine, I’m fine. I… I needed concentration and you having a panic attack in my ear wasn’t helping.”

“Sorry. You make contact with Harkin yet?”

“I haven’t made it into Chora’s Den yet.”

“Kid like you going into Chora’s Den alone?” Wrex snorted. “You’d get eaten alive.”

“Who was that?” Alenko’s voice rose an octave. “He sounds big.”

Maggie snorted. “He is big. And old, and probably cranky. He also saved my life.” She leveled a glare at Wrex. “Which is the only reason I’m allowing him to continue calling me kid.”

“So are you still going to talk to Harkin?”

“Dunno. I’ll keep you posted. Shepard out.” She turned her radio off again. “We seem to have similar, if not identical, goals. I don’t particularly want to go to Chora’s Den if I don’t have to, but I’m looking for a C-Sec officer named Vakarian. Apparently Harkin would know where he is.”

Wrex grunted. “I was in C-Sec earlier, misunderstanding of course, and heard the name Vakarian mentioned along with a doctor and clinic. Michel maybe?”

Maggied shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find. A clinic should be on the map, right?”

“Or that infernal VI might know.”

Wrex seemed as reluctant as Maggie was to talk to Avina, the Citadel’s information VI, but not finding a Michel anywhere on the map beside the terminal, they had little choice.

“The clinic of Dr. Chloe Michel is in the lower wards,” Avina parotted in an unnervingly chipper voice. “Transportation is available at the following hubs—” 

They walked away before the VI could rattle off half a dozen stops. The nearest one wasn’t far, though krogan-sized transport seemed to be in short supply, so they set off on foot through the wards to a tiny clinic on the outskirts of a modest shopping district.

Wrex held out an arm to stop her from entering. “Stay here. Something’s going down.”

“What? I’m not—”

“I’m not arguing. Stay put. Your turian— _ a _ turian—is in there, and a bunch of humans.”

“Shit.”

The mercs seemed to notice Wrex’s presence then—how they hadn’t before was a miracle—moments later, gunfire erupted inside the clinic. Wrex disappeared through the door and Maggie reluctantly stayed where she was. 

The gunfire stopped after a few minutes and Maggie heard voices. She vaguely wondered if Wrex had forgotten about her, so she stepped into the clinic, only to be met by the business end of an assault rifle held by a turian in C-Sec armor.

“Who are you?”

“Relax C-Sec. This is Dr. Shepard,” Wrex said. “She’s harmless.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Thanks for that. Forget something?”

He grunted. “Sorry.” 

“Apologies, Dr. Shepard,” Vakarian said as he stowed his rifle. “I’m Garrus Vakarian. I was the one responsible for looking into Saren’s involvement in the attack on Eden Prime.”

“Well thank heaven for small miracles,” Maggie muttered. “Now I won’t have to talk to Harkin.” She turned to Dr. Michel. “Can you tell us what happened?”

Dr. Michel sank onto a stool beside a workstation. “Yesterday, I had a visitor. A quarian kid, alone and scared. She’d been shot.” 

“Hang on,” Maggie said. “I think Commander Alenko needs to hear this.” She turned her radio back on and filled him in on what had happened since they’d spoken last. “You should head here, but in the meantime, Dr. Michel can fill us all in.”

“We’ll be there ASAP,” Alenko said. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Right back at ya.”

“See you in a few.”

Maggie nodded to Dr. Michel. “Please, continue.”

“Did the quarian say how she’d been shot, by who?” Vakarian asked.

“She did. She didn’t say why but she was being chased by Saren’s men.”

“She must have some irrefutable proof of what he’d done on Eden Prime,” Alenko said in Maggie’s ear. She agreed and repeated to the others what he’d said before she asked, “what happened to her after you patched her up?”

“She was looking for protection, so I sent her to Fist,” Dr. Michel said. “He works for the Shadow Broker.”

“Not anymore he doesn’t,” Wrex said. “He betrayed the Shadow Broker for Saren.”

“Shit,” Maggie muttered, only to have it repeated back to her in stereo by Alenko and Williams.

“What do we do now?” Vakarian asked.

“We?” Maggie asked. “You’re with us?”

“Saren betrayed all turians when he attacked Eden Prime. I just want to help bring him to justice in any way I can.”

“I mean, this isn’t my show, it’s Alenko’s, but you seem like a stand-up guy, despite my meeting your gun before I met your face.”

His mandibles fluttered. “Sorry about that.”

Maggie waved away his apology. “Don’t worry about it. It was a tense situation, and besides, Wrex should have told me when it was clear.”

Wrex grunted but said nothing.

Everyone turned as the door slid open again and Alenko and Williams stepped into the clinic. 

“Looks like we missed a party,” Williams quipped as she looked around at the carnage.

“Everyone’s all right?” Alenko asked. 

“No worse off than we were before,” Maggie said. “We were just discussing what to do next.”

“Quarian kid’s not gonna last going up against Fist,” Wrex said. “You want your evidence, you’re gonna have to get to Fist and fast.”

Alenko nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Where do we find Fist?”

“Chora’s Den,” Vakarian chimed in. “He’s the owner.”

“Perfect,” Maggie muttered. “Avoided one creep only to confront a second one.”

“You don’t have to come with us,” Alenko said. “You could stay here or head to Udina’s office.”

Maggie nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll stay here with Dr. Michel ‘til C-Sec is done.”

Dr. Michel smiled. “Thank you, all of you. I don’t know what would have happened if Garrus and Wrex hadn’t shown up.”

“We’ll keep you posted,” Alenko said to Maggie as he and the others prepared to head out. “Meet us at Udina’s office when you’re done here.”

Maggie nodded. “Good luck, and be careful.”

* * *

“Why are you here?” Udina asked for the umpteenth time in the last hour as Maggie paced his office. “I would like an actual answer.”

She shrugged. She felt like a useless slug, if she was honest. Sure, she’d been hit by the beacon, had freaky images in her head, but what good did that do anyone?

“She’s here because, whether you like it or not, she’s a part of this,” Anderson said. 

“She’s a civilian.”

“So are you. But no one repeatedly asks why you are in any given space.”

Maggie chewed her lip to keep from laughing. She wouldn’t be surprised if Udina’s head exploded right then and there.

“Captain, you are treading on very thin ice,” he said through gritted teeth. “If I don’t get a real answer—”

Before he could finish his threat, the door slid open and Alenko, Williams, Jenkins, and a quarian piled into the deceptively small office. 

Udina glared at each of them in turn. “Well?”

No one said a word as the quarian opened her omni-tool and played a recording recovered from a downed geth unit, a conversation between Saren and a female voice which Maggie recognized immediately.

She swore under her breath. “That’s Lady Benezia.”

All eyes fixed on her. “Who’s Lady Benezia?” Alenko asked.

“She’s an Asari Matriarch. Popular, well respected. Powerful biotics.” Maggie shook her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. She’s not… she’s not the ‘world domination’ type.”

“This seems proof enough of Saren’s involvement,” Udina said, seemingly ignorning the conversation thread. “I’ll notify the Council.”

Williams turned on Maggie as Udina walked away. “You seem to know an awful lot about this Benezia,” she said, the accusation clear in her tone. “How do we know—”

“That’s enough, lieutenant,” Anderson snapped. “I don’t know why you have such a problem with Dr. Shepard, but the accusations and suspicion ends here and now.”

“Sir.” 

“She was my tutor when I was a teenager,” Maggie said, pointedly ignoring Williams and addressing Anderson and Alenko. “She lived with us for a couple of years, and taught me how to control my biotics, how to use them, for good or ill.”

A shadow of some unknown emotion passed over Alenko’s face, gone as quickly as it had come. “And she was a good person, as far as you knew?”

“My father’s a damn good judge of character.” Maggie shrugged. “Can’t imagine he would have let her stay if she wasn’t.”

“Point taken.” 

“The Council has granted us another audience,” Udina said from his desk. “I don’t want any screw-ups this time.” He gestured vaguely. “Commander Alenko and the quarian are with me. The rest of you stay here.”

Maggie wanted to argue—judging from the color rising on Williams’ neck, she did as well—but Anderson held up a hand. “If this goes as planned, if the Council sees sense and makes Commander Alenko a Spectre, it’ll be televised. We’ll be able to watch from here.”

“Thank you, Captain Anderson,” Udina said as he walked to the door. “I’m glad to see at least one of you has functioning brain cells.”

“I really hate that man,” Maggie grumbled as the door closed behind him.

Williams laughed. “Looks like we agree on something at last.” 

“So what happened after you left the clinic?” Maggie asked as they all settled on Udina’s surprisingly comfortable couches—clearly he hadn’t picked them out himself. “Felt like hours ‘til we heard any news.”

“We picked up Jenkins, spent a good ten minutes convincing Dr. Chakwas that  _ we _ hadn’t been in any firefights, and picked up Wrex on the way out of C-Sec. He insisted he was coming with us if we were going after Fist.” Williams shook her head with a short laugh. “I for one wasn’t about to argue.”

“It was amazing, doc,” Jenkins said, the enthusiasm Maggie had heard for a brief moment on Eden Prime returning. “I’ve never seen so many mercs in one place. They were everywhere!”

“Fist was cowering in his office, of course,” Williams said when Jenkins fell silent again. “He tried to bribe his way out of it, but the commander and Wrex weren’t in the mood for games. In the end, he didn’t tell us anything and Wrex shot him in the face. Had to ransack the office to find out he’d sent Tali, the quarian girl, into a trap.”

“We got there just in time, too,” Jenkins said. “They were gonna jump her, but we got the jump on them.”

“Almost wish I’d gone with you.” Maggie stretched her arms out in front of her and cracked her neck. “Hell of a lot more exciting than being subjected to Udina’s glare and questions for an hour.” 

“Exciting, perhaps,” Anderson said. “But dangerous. You’re not a soldier, Maggie. You shunned that path years ago.”

“I know, I know. I never wanted to be like you or Dad. But, well, if I’m going to help take down Saren, avenge those lost on Eden Prime, I’m gonna have to fight sometimes.”

“You’re right. You’ll need to brush up on your shooting skills.”

“What skills?” Maggie scoffed and gestured to her face. “These wounds? Nearly all are from the fallout of the single drone I managed to hit on Eden Prime.”

“No offense, doc, but you wouldn’t have lasted thirty seconds in Chora’s Den,” Williams said. “Honestly, we’re lucky we made it out ourselves.”

“What a comforting revelation,” Anderson said. “The investigation ended almost before it began.”

“Which is exactly what Saren was hoping for.” Maggie sighed and flopped down inelegantly on the nearest chair. “What happens if, for some reason, the Council  _ doesn’t _ believe the evidence? Then what do we do?”

Anderson’s omni-tool pinged. “That’s not a bridge we’ll need to cross. They accepted the evidence—apparently Councelor Tevos was just as baffled about Benezia’s involvement as you are, Maggie.” He closed the message and picked up the remote for Udina’s TV. “They’re making Commander Alenko a Spectre. Normally, it would be a big ceremony, lots of fanfare, but given the circumstances surrounding this whole thing, they’re doing it now.” 

“First human Spectre. Amazing.” Williams shook her head and laughed. “Damn shame it took so long.”

Maggie exchanged a look with Anderson. “Yeah. Damn shame.”


	4. Chapter 4

Maggie watched Alenko pace up and down the length of the Captain’s Quarters, now his own. Ambassador Udina had effectively retired Anderson, booting him from command of the Normandy after the Spectre ceremony.

“A Spectre answers to no one,” he’d said, as if that made the whole thing any better. “Though Commander Alenko would do well to remember he was a human long before he was a Spectre.”

Maggie hadn’t stuck around after that, instead following Cpl. Jenkins into the main crew quarters to get settled. Not five minutes later, Alenko had called her into his quarters, for some seemingly urgent matter, but he’d not said a word since, only endlessly pacing.

“Stop. Pacing.” She held out an arm to block his path as he made to walk by her again. “You called me in here for a reason. Get on with it. I’m sure you’ve got—”

“Anderson was almost a Spectre.”

She blinked, startled that he’d finally spoken. “Yes? I take it you finally asked him?”

“I did. But you knew! Why didn’t you tell me?”

She crossed her arms and legs as she leaned against his desk. “You’re not gonna make me the bad guy here, Commander. Yes, of course I knew. But as I said before, it wasn’t my story to tell.”

He huffed a breath through his nose but said nothing as he resumed pacing.

“What happened between Anderson and Saren was twenty years ago.”

“And yet it’s clearly affecting us in the here and now.”

“It’s not, not really. Saren’s always had a bug up his ass about humanity. It’s nothing more than coincidence.” 

“You should have told me.”

“No, you should have gone to Anderson before now, chased him down after Udina booted him from the initial investigation.” She crossed her arms again. “Could have found out then and there instead of blaming me for shit. Direct your anger at Saren, not me.”

Alenko scowled. “You—”

“So where are we going? Do you have a lead or did they just pick you up and fling you like a baby bird? ‘You’re the Spectre, you figure it out.’” 

“Uh… yeah. They were actually helpful on that point. We’ve got three leads: Noveria and a colony on Feros have reported geth activity, and—”

“Dr. T’Soni.”

Alenko’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “Yes. How did you know?”

“It’s the logical next step.” Maggie shrugged. “Lady Benezia’s involvement in all this is a mystery. Her daughter is a Prothean expert and Saren seems to be after Prothean artefacts. Therefore, he’d want to go find her, see if she can be of any use.”

“Assuming she’ll cooperate with him. If she won’t, he’ll likely kill her.”

Maggie sucked in a breath through her teeth. “If it comes to that, it’ll prove Lady Benezia is truly gone. The Benezia I knew would never just let her be killed like that.”

“Then we need to get to Dr. T’Soni before Saren does.”

“Exactly.” Maggie sighed and clutched her hands over her heart. “Can’t believe I’m actually going to get to meet her!”

“Oh God.” Alenko wrinkled his nose. “You’re not gonna go all gooey when you see her, are you?”

“Of course not.” Maggie sputtered in mock indignation. “I will be the consummate professional.”

“Uh huh.” His demeanor shifted as he changed the subject, his tone more serious. “And how will you do in the field? With you getting hit by the beacon, you’re an integral part of this, whether any of us like it or not, and I need you mentally prepared for battle when necessary.”

Maggie nodded. “I’ll be fine. It was… everything about that day was bad. But the shock of, well,  _ you _ has worn off, which was the biggest hurdle. Reliving Elysium in vivid detail.”

“Yeah I get it. No offense, but seeing you like that again wasn’t exactly a picnic for me either.”

“You certainly handled it better than I did. But then, I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing you at all.”

Her therapists had told her time and again that avoiding him, his name and face, wouldn’t do her any good, only make the problem worse if she was ever forced to interact with him. 

She was beyond irritated that they were actually right and that they were right that being around him would soften the edges of the grief somewhat.

She unfolded her legs and pushed away from the desk. “I should go, get out of your hair. I’m sure you’ve got Spectre-y things that need doing before we get to where we’re going.”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t know what those things are, but there’s probably something.” He grimaced. “Reports to write at the very least.”

“Paperwork’s a bitch, I know.” She laid a hand on his arm for a moment as he palmed open the door. “In case I failed to say it before, thanks for saving my life. Again.”

His expression softened into something like a fond smile. “Just don’t go making a habit of it, Dr. Shepard.”

Her own smile came more easily than she’d expected. “Call me Maggie.”

* * *

“Hey doc, you ever done a dig on a volcano planet?” Jenkins asked, his voice jerking as the Mako rumbled over uneven ground, lava spitting out of pits all around them. “Seems kind of a weird place for a colony.”

“As far as we’ve been able to determine, the volcano was dormant back then,” Maggie said. “And no, I haven’t. Digs like this are better suited for solo work and I prefer having other living beings around. It’s easy to lose one’s grip on reality when there’s no one to talk to but bones.”

“Oh, well that bodes well for our finding Dr. T’Soni in a right state of mind,” Alenko said, turning to glare at Maggie for a moment. “Thank you  _ so much _ for that insight, M—Dr. Shepard.”

She shrugged. “Would you rather find her stark raving mad and not have thought of the possibility beforehand? But she’s been at this longer than I have. I’m sure she’s more acclimated to working alone.”

“There’s also the possibility none of this will matter,” Williams said. “Given how many geth we’ve run into, she could already be dead.”

“I’m beginning to regret bringing the two of you,” Alenko said. “Wrex and Garrus would have been more cheerful.”

“If it helps, I disagree with the lieutenant,” Maggie said, clutching the sidebar as the Mako flew over a large bump. “Christ, Commander, thought you wanted to get there in one piece!”

“This isn’t a luxury skycar, Shepard. It’s a military vehicle.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, if the geth have gotten to Dr. T’Soni, I doubt she’ll be dead. Captured, maybe, but not dead. She’s too valuable an asset to Saren, or so he likely thinks, to kill her on sight.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” 

* * *

Whatever any of them actually thought they’d find when they finally arrived at Dr. T’Soni’s dig site, they were all wrong. 

Maggie thought it was probably good that Alenko  _ hadn’t _ brought Wrex and Garrus, as they approached a rickety-looking elevator, though the ride down to the level below was surprisingly smooth, and faster than the cargo elevator on the Normandy. 

A second elevator, guarded by a handful of drones, proved to be more rickety than the first, and it took everything in Maggie to not scream as the car plummeted several stories before screeching to a halt half a foot from the floor of the dig. 

Williams looked a little green as she hopped off beside Maggie. “I will never complain about the elevators on the Normandy or the Citadel ever again,” she said in a harsh whisper. “They’re heaven compared to this thing.” 

Maggie couldn’t help but agree. 

“Wonder where—”

“Hello?” a faint voice called out. “Is someone there? I need help!” 

“Over there,” Alenko said, gesturing to a great cavern off to the left of the elevator as he ran off in that direction. 

Maggie followed with Williams and Jenkins close on her heels. They all stopped short when they found their path blocked by a massive bubble.

Inside the bubble, arms and legs stretched and secured, was Dr. T’Soni.

“Thank the Goddess, you are… human,” she said as none of them moved, only stared at her. “And real. You are real, yes?”

Maggie took a step forward. “Yes, Dr. T’Soni, we’re real. I’m Dr. Shepard. This is Commander Alenko, Lt. Williams, and Cpl. Jenkins of the Alliance.”

“A pleasure to meet you all.”

“Can you tell us, uh, how did you get in this position?”

“I was in the room behind me when I heard others within the site. I caught sight of geth and a krogan searching, destroying the progress I had made. I heard my name mentioned so I knew they were looking for me specifically. I came in here and activated the barrier and have been stuck here ever since. I cannot imagine what would have happened to me if you had not arrived.”

“Do you know where the controls are?” Maggie asked, pacing up and down in front of the trap, trying to determine a way through it. “Or if there’s any way to just break through?”

“The control panel is directly behind me. You will need to break through to this room somehow. There is no way to get through the barrier itself.”

“Damn. Is there a way to get through to the next room?”

“Yes, there is a drill in the chamber to your left. Be cautious in using it. The geth used it once already and nearly brought the whole place down on us.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Alenko said as he gestured for Williams and Jenkins to go ahead of him. “Dr. Shepard, are you coming with us or staying here?”

Maggie held up her hands. “You have fun with all that, I’ll stay here and keep Dr. T’Soni company.”

“Fair enough. See you on the other side.”

Maggie pulled off her helmet and sat on a crate close to the bubble. “This may be a weird time to say this but, it’s an honor to meet you, Dr. T’Soni.”

“Oh?”

“You’re the reason I became an archaeologist, went on to study protheans. All thanks to your mother, actually.”

“You know my mother?”

“It was a sort of cultural exchange thing about fifteen years ago. She came to live with my father and me on Arcturus. She helped me hone my biotics and in exchange she was able to see first hand how humanity lived, at least on a space station.”

“And she talked about me?”

Frequently, yes, and fondly.” Maggie smiled. “And for my birthday not long before our lessons ended, she gave me a copy of your doctoral dissertation. I still have it. Or I did.” Her shoulders slumped as she frowned. “Suppose it was destroyed when my hut on Eden Prime got bombed.”

“If we get out of this—oh!” Dr. T’Soni dropped to the floor as the barrier disappeared and her bonds opened. She smiled as Maggie held out a hand to help her up. “Thank you, Dr. Shepard. As I was saying, if we get out of this alive, I will get you another copy.”

Maggie grinned. “Thank you!” She gestured to the other side of the platform where Alenko, Williams, and Jenkins waited. “Shall we?”

* * *

“Too close Commander,” Joker said as they all piled into the airlock an hour later. “Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn’t equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference.”

Alenko rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We nearly died and your pilot is making jokes?” Dr. T’Soni’s practically screeched. 

“I promise, we’re not all like that,” Maggie said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“He did just pull us out of literal lava,” Williams said. “In my book, anyone who can do that can make all the jokes they want.”

Dr. T’Soni shook her head. “I do not understand humans at all.”

“Some of us don’t understand humans either, doc,” Jenkins said. 

“He’s not wrong,” Maggie said, leading the party out of decontamination. “Where to, Commander?”

“Med bay first, or Dr. Chakwas will have my head,” Alenko said, siddling past her. “Then the comm room. Joker, call up Garrus, Wrex, and Tali, tell them to meet us there in ten. We’ll do a meet ‘n’ greet with everybody.”

“Can do,” Joker said. 

Silence descended on the group as they took the long way down to the med-bay. After their adventure on Therum, it seemed none of them were looking to get into an elevator again anytime soon. 

“Well I’m certainly glad to see you’re all in one piece,” Dr. Chakwas said, directing each of them to a different cot. “At least you look like it on the outside. Hopefully none of you are being held together by your armor.”

“It was a close shave more than a couple of times,” Alenko admitted. “Joker saved our asses on this one.”

“You’re welcome!” Joker grumbled over the comm. 

“And you, Dr. T’Soni?” Dr. Chakwas asked. “How are you feeling? Commander Alenko sent word ahead that you’d been trapped prior to their arrival.”

“I am sore, and famished, but otherwise all right, I think,” Dr. T’Soni said softly. “It was probably no more than a couple of hours from the time I got myself trapped until I was freed.”

“Well, your scans are clear, so you’re free to go, though I would like to do a more thorough examination if you are intending to remain on the Normandy.”

“The more the merrier!” Jenkins said from a cot at the far end of the room. 

“Indeed.” Dr. Chakwas proceeded with scans of the rest and let them go. “You’ve all had a rough day. I would strongly suggest resting as much as you can.” 

* * *

_ “Absolutely no respect—” _

_ “—Prothean ruins destroyed—” _

_ “Dr. Shepard—” _

_ “Now that you have Dr. T’Soni on board, which we feel is a terrible idea, you can drop Dr. Shepard off at the next port.” _

_ “Enough. I’m done. Joker!” _

Alenko stormed out of the comm room moments later, nearly running into Maggie as she tried to sneak away without getting caught eavesdropping.

“Shit.” He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from slamming into the wall behind her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She ignored the way his hands felt on her shoulders and raised an eyebrow. “Are you? Sounds like the Council really laid into you.”

He scoffed. “They’re a bunch of windbags. And I don’t know what you heard, but I have no intention of kicking you off the ship.”

She smiled. “Glad to hear it. Despite myself, I’m actually enjoying being here.”

“Good. As they say, while one Prothean expert is good, two is better. Besides, you’ve got the vision from the beacon stuck in that big brain of yours. I’m sure you want to get that figured out.”

“Absolutely.” Maggie shuddered. “Just would love to never have to ‘embrace eternity’ ever again. That was brutal.”

Alenko lightly squeezed her shoulder. “Get some rest. It’ll probably be eighteen hours or more before we get to Noveria.”

“Least we won’t be accused of destroying another ruin this time, no matter what happens.”

“True, though I’m sure they’ll find something to complain about. Seems to be their favorite pastime, finding fault with me even when there is none.”

Maggie sighed. “I wish I could say I couldn’t relate, I really do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Maggie Shepard face claim: https://pin.it/56c5skz


End file.
